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A FRESH LOOK
Look to FRESH PRODUCE for new works, new looks at old works, and, most importantly, an ever-widening range of voices that speak to the Midwestern experience. "Concert Reading?" What's That?
Using lecterns, a stage-directions narrator, and no technical elements, these readings focus entirely on the story and the actors--literally, the play's voices. |
ALWAYS FREE!
These concert readings, developed by artists from around the Midwest, are just as professional and compelling, but slightly more economical than our major productions. Therefore, in the interest of making live theatre more accessible, these concerts will have NO admission charges. DON'T MISS THESE! |
ONLINE
SAT. March 6 | 7:30pm SUN. March 7 | 2:00pm* *Talk back with cast & company to follow ALWAYS FREE!
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Synopsis
Three years after dying of lung cancer, Josie’s mother telephones from a bus station in North Dakota. Josie begins to face their history and navigate her grief, demonstrating the complexity of mother-daughter relationships and highlighting the disparity between expectation and reality when grieving the loss of a loved one. Laura Eason’s When the Messenger Is Hot, adapted from the book of short stories by Elizabeth Crane, is a comic study of love and letting go.
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The Company
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CAST
Mom --- Joan Korte Josie #1 --- Katie Braden Josie #2 --- Claire Boston Josie #3 --- Jessica Pulte Man (all) --- John Drea Narrator --- Emily Davis PRODUCTION CREW Director --- Deidra Mohr Stage Manager --- Jacklin Stonewall Dramaturg --- Jordan Stangeland |
THEATRE TheatreMidwest: The Friendly Hour. Director - Hitler's Tasters. Kata Klysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, Vagina Monologues; California Theatres: Young Frankenstein, Burning Opera LA, Ragtime in Concert, Company, Not Your Mama's Broadway, The Nitch, Stepping Out, Marat/Sade, Mousetrap, Laramie Project; FILM/TV My Friend Max, That Night, Lost Soulmates, Antique America.
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Joan Korte - Mom
ACTING - Fair Assembly, Dallas TX: Romeo and Juliet. Texas Shakespeare Festival: King John, Tartuffe, 110 in the Shade. Wesleyan Theatre Company: August: Osage County, The Lion in Winter, The Glass Menagerie. BUSINESS - Professor of Theatre, Nebraska Wesleyan University. DIRECTING: ACADEMIC Nebraska Wesleyan University: A Doll’s House Part 2, The Book of Will, A Christmas Carol, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Bridges of Madison County, 12th Night, Nell Gwynn, Mamma Mia, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Noises Off, The Importance of Being Ernest, The Learned Ladies, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Clean House. 
Jessica Pulte - Josie #3
ACTING – Elkhorn Community Theatre: Suessical, Wizard of Oz, Rock n Roll Review, The Wedding Reception, South Pacific. Brownville Villlage Theatre: Tale of Two Masters, Ring Around the Moon. Doane University: Baby, Midsummer Night's Dream, Cabaret. DIRECTING: St. Patrick's School- Disney's High School Musical Jr, Disney's Lion King Jr, WIzard of Oz, Annie. Elkhorn Community Theatre: Nonies, Aesop's Fables, Wizard of Oz. BUSINESS:St. Patrick's School- Drama Coach/Director VOLUNTEER:- Elkhorn Community Theatre. Board Member EDUCATION: BA-Theatre Arts- Doane University. Jacklin Stonewall - Stage Manager
*THEATRE* STAGE MANAGEMENT: Theatre Midwest: Hitler's Tasters. COSTUME DESIGN: East Marshall Performing Arts: Sister Act. ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE: Martha Ellen Tye Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar, Company, Nunsense. EDUCATION: Iowa State University Aerospace Engineering (BS), Industrial Engineering (MS) |
Katie Braden - Josie #1
ACTING - Ivy Theatre Company (NYC) Co-Founder: A Real Boy (59E59), Reach, Mill Fire, Outside/Inside, The Perfect Wife, Like Poetry (LaMaMa), Incongruence, Black Ice. The Secret Theatre (NYC): The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Romeo and Juliet, Edward II, The Spanish Tragedie. Shakespeare Forum (NYC): The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet. Workshop Theater (NYC): Acting: Full Frontal. Directing: Turtles & Bulldogs, After, Vowed & Wowed, Food for Thought. FILM - Wherever You Go Pictures (NYC): Unpacking. EDUCATION- Gregory Abels Training Ensemble, NYC, Certificate. Simpson College, Iowa, BA Theatre Arts. 
Emily Davis - Narrator
ACTING: Des Moines Playhouse: Singing in the Rain, A Chorus Line, Young Frankenstein, You Can't Take It With You. Iowa Stage: A Doll's House. Open Door Rep: Closer, The Manic Monologues. Tallgrass: Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy, Oleanna. KataKlysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, Reefer Madness. DIRECTING: KataKlysmic Productions: The Rocky Horror Show, The Vagina Monologues, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. CO-DIRECTOR: Iowa Stage: AdoreUs Line. 
Jordan Stangeland - Dramaturgy
ACTING: Southwest Minnesota State University: The Awesome 80’s Prom, Young Frankenstein, Trenchcoat in Common, Miss Electricity, Sense and Sensibility. COSTUME DESIGN: Southwest Minnesota State University Drama Club: You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANT: Southwest Minnesota State University: Young Frankenstein, Sense and Sensibility, Hi Ho Robin Hood. PROP DESIGN: Southwest Minnesota State University: Sense and Sensibility. |
Claire Boston - Josie #2
ACTING - Giving Tree Theater: Silent Sky, Pride and Prejudice, Puffs, The Tin Woman. Theatre Cedar Rapids: Dracula, Underground Play Festival. Dreamwell Theatre: Visages. London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art: Twelfth Night, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. REPRESENTATIVE ROLES - Mirrorbox Theatre: Rolling. Dreamwell Theatre: The Humiliation Play. 50/50-An Arts Production Co.: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Dracula, All the Natalie Portmans. DIRECTING- Theatre Cedar Rapids: A Walking Shadow. EDUCATION - Buena Vista University: BA Theatre. London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art: Classical Acting Diploma. 
John Drea - Man (All)
ACTING - Lifeline Theatre: Whose Body?, Loki. The Arc Theatre: Julius Caesar. Pegasus Theatre Chicago: Containment, These Glass Lives. Goodly Creatures Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing. Victory Gardens Theater: Fresh Air. Loyola University Chicago: Fun Home, Cabaret, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Burns, Plan B, Life on Shuffle, Alpha, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. REPRESENTATION: Big Mouth Talent, Inc. EDUCATION: BA Theatre - Loyola University Chicago. London Dramatic Academy - Fordham University. Summer 2022 - The School at Steppenwolf. |
The Playwright
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LAURA EASON is a Brooklyn-based playwright, screenwriter and producer best know for the play Sex with Strangers (over 100 productions in the US and around the world) and four seasons as a writer/producer on the Netflix drama House of Cards (Emmy Nomination Drama Series; WGA nomination Drama Series.) Her feature film debut, Here and Now (formerly Blue Night) staring Sarah Jessica Parker premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is available on demand. Laura is an Ensemble Member and the former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago (2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award) where she worked as a writer, director and actor. Her many Lookingglass writing credits include an adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days which went on to more than 20 productions in London and the UK and transferred to the New Victory Theatre in NYC. lauraeason.com
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When the Messenger is Hot is based on a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Crane.
Elizabeth Crane is the author of four collections of short stories, Turf, When the Messenger is Hot, All this Heavenly Glory, and You Must Be This Happy to Enter as well as two novels, We Only Know So Much and The History of Great Things. Her work has been translated into several languages and has been featured in numerous publications including Other Voices, Nerve, Ecotone, Swink, Guernica, Coachella Review, Mississippi Review, Florida Review, Bat City Review, fivechapters, The Collagist, Make, Hobart, Rookie, Fairy Tale Review, failbetter, The Huffington Post, Eating Well, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Reader and The Believer, and anthologies including Altared, The Show I’ll Never Forget, The Best Underground Fiction, Who Can Save Us Now?, Brute Neighbors and Dzanc’s Best of the Web 2008 and 2010. Her stories have been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Crane is a recipient of the Chicago Public Library 21st Century Award, and her work has been adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater company, and also been adapted for film. She teaches in the UCR-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. A film adaptation of We Only Know So Much premiered at the Nantucket Film Festival in June 2018. |
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